1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to water displays or fountains, optical illusion systems, and special effect devices, and, more particularly, to an apparatus or system for achieving an illusion of a fan-shaped, liquid fountain in a dry or waterless manner.
2. Relevant Background
In many settings, it is desirable to provide a pleasing visual display to enhance a visitor's experience of a park, an entertainment facility, a public building, and so on. Water displays aid fountains are often used to create effects with water and lights may be accompanied by music to create a crowd-pleasing effect. Water displays are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complicated in design and operation with most water displays including a body of water such as pool or lake and numerous remotely-controlled nozzles and/or water display devices. The water display devices are often computer controlled to spray or disperse water in a timed or synchronized pattern. Presently-available water display systems have produced useful water displays and shows, but there have been many barriers toward their more widespread adoption and use.
Existing water display devices are typically submerged in a body of water and may be fixed in place or provided on a movable platform. The movable platform is typically raised and lowered by other submerged components to bring the nozzle or water outlet above the surface of the water during the show, and the movable platform is often quite large. Another problem facing water display designers is how to provide a moving head or nozzle system that can articulate to numerous positions. Such a range of nozzle or water outlet positions is desirable for providing displays and shows with greater variety and allows designers to play with the water to create different looks utilizing fewer fountains or water display devices (and, hence, fewer platforms that have to raised and lowered in the water). Another problem with existing water display systems is alignment of the outlet or nozzle prior to beginning a show or display sequence. With existing fountains and water displays, the alignment process is very labor intensive and inaccurate as workers generally enter the pond or body of water and try to set the nozzle to a home position by hand. Often, this simply involves “eyeballing” the position of the nozzle to reset it into a desired position while standing in water. Such aligning is then repeated periodically as the equipment may tend to become unaligned with use in shows.
In other settings, it may be desirable to provide a fountain in conjunction with moving parts such as within a ride. In other words, the fountain itself may not have moving parts but the nearby portions of a physical support may have moving components such as if the fountain is positioned on top or within an amusement park ride (e.g., a rotating ride structure). In such applications, it may be very difficult and expensive to create a rotary union that allows water to be piped to the fountain without leaking and significant wear and maintenance requirements.
In addition to these challenges presented by fountains and water displays, there are many applications where it is useful to create an effect such as a fan of water, but the use of water may not be desirable or even possible. For example, it may be useful to provide a fan of water within or near an amusement park ride or near the entrance of a building, but the use of water would require plumbing and cause maintenance problems such as to repair leaks and to realign fountain heads. Further, the spray of water may be difficult to control due to wind effects. Still further, it may be undesirable to have water contact nearby structures or equipment as this may cause discoloring of nearby buildings and walls or may detrimentally effect ride or other operating mechanisms (e.g., increase corrosion of mechanical components, require additional lubrication or enclosure components to minimize exposure to moisture). Also, use of water fountains may result in viewers and others nearby getting wet from spray or blown water, when this is not desired or planned.